Wheatland Crossing School delayed

Melissa Strle
Times Reporter

 

The opening of the new Wheatland Crossing School is one month delayed. The school was originally slated to open to Grades 3 through 6 students from Gleichen, Hussar, Rockyford and Standard on Sept. 1.
Heavy rains throughout the area in July and early August caused a delay in completing the roof and outdoor site, even though some classrooms are ready.
“We had some areas of the school that didn’t have a roof over top of them that was dry,” said Bevan Daverne, superintendent of Golden Hills School Division. “We couldn’t get as far with the inside finishing because of that. So that has set us back about a month.
“In the meantime, we’ve made adjustments so that we can accommodate all the students at the Standard school.”
According to Daverne, over the summer the site was very muddy and the contractor had pumps running most of the time trying to get water out and dry it out.
Students will eventually be moved over to the new school as it becomes ready.
Originally, kindergarten through Grade 2 and Grade 7 through 12 were scheduled to move into the new school in October. However, Daverne said currently there are no verified plans detailing when all students will move in.
“By Oct. 1 we should have the exterior ready to go [and] the Grade 3 through 6 classrooms ready. We may have other areas of the school that are also ready. It’s difficult to say.”
Dry weather would help contractors finish completing the site, but rain was in the forecast for parts of this week. As a result, the timeline for all students to move in will be the subject of meetings going forward.
The school division is holding an information night Aug. 29 at the Standard School at 7 p.m. to go over the progress of the new school, busing plans for all students and plans to accommodate students.
The school division will also host another meeting towards the end of September to re-evaluate the construction progress. Daverne would like to see input from the parents.